The idea was to just to have “a little fun” but his will to win spoke louder and Armindo Araújo's prowess was clear to see right from the start. The driver from Santo Tirso made his rally debut in April 2000, at the wheel of a rented 16V Clio, and he narrowly missed out on victory in the Promotion category, finishing in second place, just 6.9 seconds behind the winner of the event. Despite this promising debut in the Montelongo/Cidade de Fafe rally, the Portuguese driver would still never have imagined that, 18 years later, he would become the first ever driver to win the National Rally Championship five times. In that time, he racked up an enviable record of three wins in the Rally of Portugal and an international track record highlighted by two world rally championship titles in the Production category.
20 years of racing
What began as “having a little fun” has turned out to be a major success story. The Portuguese racing driver Armindo Araújo is celebrating the 20th year of his career and intends to take on the next National Rally Championship with a personal sporting project
1/20
2/20
3/20
4/20
5/20
6/20
7/20
8/20
9/20
10/20
11/20
12/20
13/20
14/20
15/20
16/20
17/20
18/20
19/20
20/20
In the year marking his 20th career anniversary, Armindo Araújo wants to get back to his winning ways and is planning to enter the National Rally Championship with his own personal project.
A video produced to celebrate two decades of success sees Armindo Araújo review his sporting history and the partnership with Galp - which will be sponsoring the Portuguese driver once again – in which he admits “that he loves what he does and will continue to race for as long as he is competitive”.
